6 Designed By: Riley JeffsFEAt URES

Last summer, I drove past Pleasant Hill High School for the very fi rst time. When I saw the big, glorious yellow letters plastered onto the back of the bleachers I thought it was a joke.

Billies? Really?Why would anyone want to be a Pleas-

ant Hill Billie? Now I am one. I came from Star Valley, Wyoming

with excitement for starting in a new place. My family moved to Springfi eld late this summer, and it seemed like everyone I talked to had something bad to say about Springfi eld and Thurston high schools.

“Don’t go to Thurston, it just has a lot of money that it fl aunts; I think Springfi eld has a better staff.”

“Don’t go to Springfi eld, it’s a prison.”“If my kid had to go there, I would

move.”But no one ever had any-

thing bad to say about Pleas-ant Hill. So when the opportu-nity came avoid a city school, I jumped on it.

So how has it been? Everyone in this worn lit-

tle school has been really nice. In a lot of aspects, the school has a different culture. My old high school was very strict on things like dress code and public display of affection. Kissing your girlfriend or boyfriend in the hall, or wearing a tank top or jeans with large tears were big no-no’s. I see a little more kissing here, and a little less clothing.

I have enjoyed meeting an array of new people with new personalities. Sev-eral encounters were very unusual. I had

A little more kissing, a little less clothing- A fi rst look at PHill

Editor in Chief--Aloe GillmorePhoto Editor--Key Key RinkerEditor--Brittany OdegaardEditor--Julie LowellEditor--Elizabeth BusterEditor--Riley JeffsReporters--Megan Miller--Nathan Faber--Ashley Quimby--Raquel Soderberg--Tyler Bryson

--Myla Garlitz--Karissa Jubie--Samuel Langeliers--Nicole Lewis--Kaitlyn Michlanski--Kaleb Miller--Madison Miller--Grace Perkins--Trea Rogers--Tiffani Smith--Allison Wallace

Billie Bulliten Staff

In a tight knit community such as Pleasant Hill, it’s sometimes hard to come in as a new high school student. Most students have grown up together since el-ementary school and jumping right into a tight mix can sometimes be uncomfortable.

I decided to get the reaction from a couple of our new students to understand just what they were thinking and feeling.

One of our new seniors, Christina Jacobsen (12) an exchange student from Denmark said, “It was overwhelming, ev-erything was new and different. I didn’t re-ally know anybody and everything was in a new language, but it was defi nitely fun to try this new way of school.”

Even though Christina found her fi rst day overwhelming, Shelby Neuharth (10) from Thurston felt differently.

“My fi rst day at PHHS was good. Ev-eryone was nice and welcoming, and all the teachers are really nice,” Shelby said with a smile.

Next, I decided to ask the point of

view of someone younger. Elizabeth Buster (9) from Eugene

Christian School, described her fi rst day as a ninth grader to be stressful and awkward.

I feel you Liz, I came to PHHS in sec-ond grade, and even at a young age it was hard at fi rst to fi t into the fl ow of everyone, but everyone is so sweet and welcoming.

“I knew no one which made it even harder,” Elizabeth explained, “I do like most of my teachers.” When I asked what her favorite class was so far, she smiled mischievously and said, “I don’t have a fa-vorite class, it’s school!”

Kody Cabral (10) from Oakridge High School told me his fi rst day was also “pret-ty good”.

“The people are very nice and interest-ing here.”

I’m sure with the fi rst couple of school weeks gone, our new students will settle in just perfectly into this little P-Hill family we’ve got trending.

Joining our P-Hill FamilyASHLEY QUIMBY

Reporter

Christina JacobsonWhere are you from?

Askov, Denmark.Age? 16What is different about people and how they interact here?

P e o p l e are a lot nicer here and speak nicer. Also, we don’t have warm weather in Denmark as long. We have every season the same amount of time.

Do you like being a senior?I already graduated at my own school

in Denmark, so it’s weird being a senior again. I like that I can graduate again here though. I think I might even move back to America someday after I graduate.

What was your school like in Denmark?Some of the same classes at my school

are here; we have math and science. But at my school, we learn Physics and Chemis-try in the same class. And in my school, we didn’t have some of the terms you have. I didn’t know what “inches” were before I came here. We also have a religion class and learn about different religions. All of my seven classes are in the same room and the teachers move to each class.

Are there any laws that you’ve noticed are different in Denmark compared to here?

In Denmark, you can drink when you are 16, and can drive when you are 18. It’s weird having so many people in school driving at my age.

What do you think about the soccer team here?

It’s very different. In Denmark, we do not have any school teams. Here, there are teams for every sport that practice a lot. We don’t have any practices for sports in Den-mark. Also, I have no idea what a lot of the girls on the team are talking about. When they pass the ball, they say things like “drop and switch.” I don’t know what that means. I’ve also never had a practice game (scrimmage).

Juan BlancoWhere are you from?

Bucaramanga-Santander, ColombiaAge? 17

What are some of the differences you have noticed between here and Colom-bia?

The biggest difference is the climate. It is always warm and sunny in Columbia. It’s very cold here in Oregon. Also, the roads here are very nice. Colombia is very small (no highways or freeways) so there is always a lot of traffi c. Something else different is the animals; we don’t have all the animals around that you do here.

Since it is always warm in Colombia, have you ever seen snow?

No, I’ve never seen snow. It never snows in Colombia.

What are the things that you miss the most from Colombia?

Of course I miss my family, but I re-ally miss the food in Colombia. In Colom-bia we have lots of different food. All year there are many fruits of all kinds.

What was your school like in Colombia?I take a lot of classes that are taken

here. I take mathematics, Science, and English. In my Science class, we learn all sciences in the year: Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. Also, at my school, we are in the same classroom all day; the teachers move around.

What do you think about the soccer team here?

In Colombia, soccer is the main sport, unlike here. We don’t have school teams in Colombia; we just play soccer with our friends. Also, girls don’t really play soccer in Colombia. So it’s very weird that there is a whole soccer team for girls here. In Colombia, girls usually play basketball.

What is different about the people and how they interact here?

In Colombia, you can drink alcohol when you are 18. I don’t drink, but I go to a lot of parties, and many people drink

there. I go to parties most weekends.

Tell me some-thing inter-esting about yourself.

Everyone wears socks here. I never wear socks

with any of my shoes.

Exchange to a Strange New World

TIFFANI SMITHReporter

Every four years Oregon State Athlet-ic Association (OSAA) reconfi gures high schoolleagues. Our four years have been spent and it is time for a change. To get a clearer outlook on this, I interviewed Mr. Hoberg, the new athletic director, and Mr. Fisher.

“The new league was formed because of shifting around at the OSAA level which means us moving to the Mountain Valley League,” said Fisher. We will be seeing new faces along with a few of our old ri-vals as well.

The Mountain Valley League consists of Harrisburg, Pleasant Hill, La Pine, Gil-de, Creswell, and Coquille.

Not everyone is excited about the new

never found people with such a love for pudding as a group of students here. I had never been chased down by a vice principal for being four seconds late to a class.

That was a little intimidat-ing.

I have never been in a more confusing parking lot.

One of the weirdest expe-riences occurred when I went to the bath-room for the fi rst time. I could not fi gure out how to use the sink. I stood in front of the concrete trough for several minutes, pressing bolts, holding a palmful of soap, wondering how water came out of it.

It took some time, but I fi nally fi gured out that I had to use my foot. There should be some instructions or something, at least

for the greenies. I haven’t just had strange experienc-

es in this school, I’ve also learned some things.

I learned that time really does slow down when you are doing Calculus, that over 90 percent of bunnies are born to die, and that you don’t bother the librarian when she could use a break. I have learned about existentialism, recycling, Mr. Ad-ams’ daily essays, and even made up my own country. I feel like I am fi tting in, and I like it here.

In a lot of ways, people here are like people anywhere, but at the same time different. Even if cultures or mascots or bathrooms may differ, they help make the people here pretty awesome. I have to ad-mit that now I too am carrying around a little bit of Billie pride. —No joke.

change, however Mr. Fisher thinks other-wise: “I like the new league, it’s smaller than before, we have to travel a little bit more, but I think it’s going to be good for us.”

Mr. Hoberg has a very similar out-look and is excited about the new league. He said that each school has their own strengths, and that he has no idea what to expect. Excess traveling will be a disad-vantage, along with getting back late from games. However, “sometimes you get tired of seeing the same schools every time, so it will be nice to see new faces.”

According to Hoberg, we haven’t had an established league in four years. We were originally Sky Em, then in Pacwest, and now the Mountain Valley league.

RILEY JEFFSEditor

New League, New FacesMEGAN MILLER

Reporter

Designed By: Riley Jeffs 7SportsNATHAN FABER

Reporter

The Pleasant Hill cross country team is off to a fast start in the 2014 season. The Billies boys and girls teams both fi nished in the top 10 at the Northwest Classic at Lane Community College on September 20.

Senior Sophie Smith has already had two strong races for the girls. After win-ning the Two Mile Trail meet at Cottage Grove, Smith placed 11th out of 91 girls at the Northwest Classic with a time of 21:15 over 5,000 meters.

Freshman Daelynn Wilde took 43rd place with a time of 23:33, while sopho-more Megan Miller and senior Maddie Morrell were close behind at 23:36 and 23:43, respectively.

On the boys team, freshman Hunter Murphy is showing incredible promise. He placed 3rd in the Two Mile Trail meet at Cottage Grove and surprised many older racers with a 14th place fi nish (out of 85) at the Northwest Classic with a 5K time of 17:51.

Classmate Callan Stowell ran a strong 31st place at 18:32. Senior Evan Richey and freshman Kyler Martin fi nished neck-and-neck with times of 19:31 and 19:32.

Sophomore Justin Oljace, senior Jo-siah Hamovitz and junior Connor Baker also fi nished strong for the boys, while ju-nior Nina Stearns provided fast and steady depth to buoy the Billies into the top 10 fi nishes.

Distance running isn’t a glamorous sport in which the student body comes out in large numbers to watch, so why might this certain group of individuals take such an interest in this sport?

“I love cross country because I love to run. It’s a passion of mine,” said Mur-phy.

Murphy started run-ning very early in life.

“I’ve been running since kindergarten. Both of my parents are runners, so that helps. I wouldn’t be where I am without the

training, but some [of my ability]I was born with.”

The combination of racing while try-ing to complete a long course is tough mentally, according to Richey. “Endurance is mainly mental. It’s pushing yourself to go as far as you can. Pretty much anyone can do it if you try hard enough,” he said.

Another thing that helps with their endurance is the practice schedule. They have easy days before a meet, such as a 30 minute run staying on the campus. They also do their usual groundwork which con-sists of abs, push ups, and planks.

On hard days, they run hill repeats up Morningstar Road. They will go up and down that steep road as many times as their coach, Beth Sprague, wants them to.

Another big requirement of cross country is having a good attitude about it and be willing to work towards your goal. “It’s mostly just getting out there and do-ing it and not complaining,” said Wilde.

Miller agrees: “I guess some people are born with it, some people are born with a drive to run. People gain it sometimes, but sometimes it’s de-pendent on if you want to put in the work.”

“My favorite part is the team as-pect. You grow as a team and have a lot of fun together,” Miller said.

Cross Country: A Drive to RunJULIE LOWELL

Reporter

SCORE! Thats all its been for the girls soccer team this year. The girls have won 6 games and lost 5 games thus far.

“We (as a team) are very dedicated and we have a good defensive line” said Defensive Captain Dakota Hanson. She added that, “There are still things we need to work on such as passing and marking.”

This team is a young team, almost all freshmen and sophomores. “Over the next couple of years we should grow as a team and become even better.” Despite the many injuries, to the team they believe that they will do well this season and they all are going to try there hardest to win.

Boy’s soccer has taken a leap this year

Hunter Murphy (9) leads the pack at the Cot-tage Grove “Dam Run”.

Alix Leavitt (12) goes for the kill while Natalie Downes (10) covers.

Blasting the Blues

It has been a tough season for the Volleyball team. But despite only a few League wins (10-7 total), the girls are fi nd-ing that the community they have may be their greatest strength. For the PHHS vol-leyball team the losses didn’t bring them down.

During a game against Harrisburg, the team wasn’t having a good night with loss-es in the fi rst two games. Top blocker, Nat-alie Downes(10), was missing blocks and misfi ring, but the rest of the team kept tell-ing her everything would be fi ne. In their third game, Downes(10) suddenly caught fi re and blocked the opposing team’s best hitter eight times.

Seeing Natalie’s improvement, the rest of her team fought back, but in the end could not best Harrisburg. But they learned that if they had a good attitude, win or lose, it would help them out throughout the game.

Like any team, certain individuals excel at different elements of the sport. Dana Brooks(11) is good at digs, Rileigh Nielson(12) is an Ace Queen, Nicole Lew-is(12) saves tips and Natalie Downes(10) owns the net with her blocking skills.

With some reluctance, Nicole Lewis

returned to the team this year. “It’s my senior year, therefore I want to go all out, having fun with my friends, and create memories a a team.”

Since all the graduated seniors from last year are gone, both Nicole Lewis and everyone else is given the opportunity to play in games much more.

Kaitlyn Michlanski(12) said, “As a team you don’t really remember the wins nor losses, just the memories because that is what you take with you and is all that matters.”

So far, the PHHS volleyball team has won one game and lost fi ve. Attitude is based on how players treat each other.

“I always have the mentality to give it my all,” said Nicole agreeing with Kaitlyn when she says playing is fun when every-one is doing well.

Even though the team has their dif-ferences they have had many team dinners and will continue to try and work through the season for a memorable year.

with eight new freshmen. They have won 8 games and lost only 3 so far this season.

The boys’ team is also a young team.“Our success is from everyone. We all have skills and we work hard and are very serious about what we do,” says Ike Sugatani when describing the reasons be-hind the teams success.

However the team also admits that there are still things that need to be worked on such as perfecting some fundamental skills. The team remains optimistic about how they will do this year. The team is looking forward to the rest of the season.

Below left: Maddie Fisher punches the ball upfi eld while the Billie Boys make a

run.

Soccer punches winning ticket

BY ASHLEY QUIMBY, MEGAN MILLER,KARISSA JUBIE, ALLISON WALLACE, HANNAH ALVIS

BY KALEB MILL-ER& TIM

MEINZENOn

paper the Billies Should

Dominate. Homecoming

Night the Billies unleashed their po-tential with a 58-17

thrashing of the Glide Wildcats. The Billies

battered the ‘Cats on all fronts, resulting in the kind

of win the team had expected of itself all along.

The Billies have a huge front line for 3A school at an average of

240lbs per lineman. We have a battering ram running back and quick, sure handed re-

ceivers. But the Billies are stuck at 2-5and the coaches are struggling with how to fi x what ails the boys. All the games have been close, domi-nate by penalties and injuries, and goal line stops by the opponents.

All the games were winnable. The Billies could easily be 4-0.The bright spots are that we have talented, a tough defence, and the season is still not over. The victory over Glide may be the jump start we need.

An injury to newcomer Tyler Kinman took the wind out of the offense in the second game. since then the Billies have been dogged with over 30 penalties for -210 yards—Game break-ers.

Against Dayton the Billies lost late in the game 12-8.The Billies held Dayton to 119 yards of offense. Leading the Billies defense was Isaac Lewis with 7 tackles. Adding to the signif-icant defensive performance was Alex Church-man and Tyler Kinman with 5 tackles each.

The Billies lost another close one to cas-cade christian 28-20. The Billies erupted for 20 points in the second quarter when Tyler Kinman punched his way across the goal line on 21-yard and 48-yard romps. Kinman also caught a pass for another 50-yard touchdown. Kinman then rolled his ankle keeping him out for two games. Ty Callaghan collared Cascade’s quarterback for a safety but Cascade came roaring back to win.

Good time to win the fi rst game at home against Amity 18-8. The Billies rose to the oc-casion by clobbering #9 ranked Amity on the strength of a solid running game. This game showed the combined power of our front line and running game.

Against Ontario, the Billies got skunked in the red zone three times. Only a safety by Tyler Kinman got the Billie on the board. Two fumbles hurt the Billies who never got their throwing game in the air. The g a m e was within reach, but the B i l -lies could not fi nish.

T h e win over Glide will m a y provide the spark to get the team mojo back. The size and power have not changed. Now to execute.

Right: Coach Fisher can’t believe what he sees.

fumbles hurt the Billies who never got their throwing game in the air. The g a m e was within reach, but the B i l -lies could not fi nish.

T h e win over Glide will m a y provide the spark to get the team mojo back. The size and power have not changed. Now to

Right: Coach Fisher Right: Coach Fisher can’t believe what he

Morningstar Road. They will go up and down that steep road as many times as their coach, Beth Sprague, wants them to.

Another big requirement of cross country is having a good attitude about it and be willing to work towards your goal. “It’s mostly just getting out there and do-ing it and not complaining,” said Wilde.

Miller agrees: “I guess some people are born with it, some people are born with a drive to run. People gain it sometimes, but sometimes it’s de-pendent on if you want to put in the

“My favorite part is the team as-pect. You grow as a team and have a

BY KALEB MILL-ER& TIM

MEINZEN

paper the Billies Should

Dominate. Homecoming

Night the Billies unleashed their po-tential with a 58-17

thrashing of the Glide Wildcats. The Billies

battered the ‘Cats on all fronts, resulting in the kind

of win the team had expected of itself all along.

The Billies have a huge front line for 3A school at an average of

240lbs per lineman. We have a battering ram running back and quick, sure handed re-

ceivers. But the Billies are stuck at 2-5and the coaches are struggling with how to fi x what ails the boys. All the games have been close, domi-

Billies struggle to meet expectations

Trevin Hoyt breaks free.